Sweet 16: No. 10 Creighton keeps March Madness magic alive, upsets No. 3 Iowa State

No. 10-seeded Creighton is dancing into its first Elite Eight after a 76-68 upset of No. 3 Iowa State in the Greensboro region semifinal on Friday night. The Bluejays are the fourth double-digit seed to reach the Elite Eight in NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament history.

The Bluejays (23-9) hit four of their 11 total 3-pointers in the third quarter to break a 30-30 halftime tie and begin to pull away. Iowa State's Emily Ryan made a layup to cut the deficit, which was as large as 13 points, to three with 37 seconds on the clock. Tatum Rembao made five of six free throws and Payton Brotzki stole an inbounds pass to seal the win and advance.

Creighton ousted No. 7 Colorado, 84-74, in the first round and shocked No. 2 Iowa, a darkhorse title favorite, by a 64-62 score in the second round. They join former double-digit seeds No. 10 Oregon (2017), No. 11 Gonzaga (2011) and No. 10 Lamar (1991).

The next upset would be a huge one: No. 1 overall seed South Carolina awaits in the region final on Sunday.

Bluejays fly high in third quarter

Creighton began to pull away by nearly matching its five first-half 3-pointers in the third quarter alone. The Bluejays were 9-of-15, including 4-of-7 from behind the arc, and Morgan Maly delivered a perfect quarter off the bench. They outscored Iowa State, 29-21.

Creighton hit its average of 10.2 3-pointers per game, going 11-of-25 (40%) and 26-of-58 (44.8%) overall. The Bluejays assisted on 15 of those baskets in their high-movement offense that can be tough to defend. They surpassed Oklahoma for most assists in the 2021-22 season with 651. No other team left in the NCAA field has more than 600. UConn has 592 and plays its Sweet 16 game on Saturday.

Maly led Creighton with 21 points off the bench and shot 70% overall while making three of her four 3-point attempts. She averages closer to 10 points a game.

"That's kind of what I'm used to, coming in off the bench just letting it fly," she said. "My teammates got me great looks. Just kind of read the defense, and once the first one or two go down, it gives me a lot of confidence to keep letting it go."

Rembao also made three and the Bluejays had two each from Lauren Jensen (10 points, eight rebounds) and Brotzki (13 points, six rebounds, two steals, one block) and one from Molly Mogensen (seven points, five rebounds, four assists, two steals, one block).

Rembao had 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting (3-of-6 on 3s) with four assists. Head coach Jim Flanery called her night "incredible."

"The third quarter, her confidence and her ability to make the plays that she did really kind of flipped the game I felt like," he said. "We had a good run at the end of the second quarter to get ourselves into a tie at half, and I felt that really helped us."

Iowa's offense falls short

Iowa State averages 10.3 3-pointers per game, second-best behind Florida Gulf Coast, and went 8-of-25 (32%). They were 24-of-63 (38.1%) overall and missed easy layup opportunities.

The Cyclones led by six at one point in the first half, but couldn't keep up despite similar success on the boards, four blocks and no difference in turnovers.

Emily Ryan scored 22 to lead Iowa State on 10-of-16 shooting. Everyone else shot 29% around her. Ryan added eight rebounds and six assists.

Nyamer Diew had 15 points and made three of four 3-pointers while adding five rebounds. Ashley Joens had 14 points and four rebounds.